To The Gallows
by stumPDep
Summary: Mina's life has just turned upside down in the course of one night! How will she manage to juggle a crazy friend, needy little sister and overwhelming grandmother, and what does the Akatsuki have to do with any of this?  THIS IS AN OC/CANON FIC PEOPLE
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone c: My isn't the weather fantastic lately? But fuck that shit I stay inside all day, what do I know. Here is the first installment of my new story about the rotten life of a teen ninja - that's about to get flipped upside down! Follow the story for epic twists and turns, with a squirt of lemony romance, and a lot of gorey action :D It'll start off slow, but isn't that how roller coasters go hm? I hope you enjoy, and PLEASE comment! I want to know if ya'll are interested in reading more. (Trust me, the summaries sound a LOT cheesier than the actual story is. I promise it will not be a waste of your time!)

Title: To The Gallows  
>Story Summary: Mina's life has just turned upside down in the course of one night! How will she manage to juggle a crazy friend, needy little sister and overwhelming grandmother, and what does the Akatsuki have to do with any of this?<br>Chapter Summary: When the mystery of a fire that burned down Mina's clan village is revealed, how does she deal with the loss of her family and other things along the way? What does this neighbor girl want, and just who the hell is this person stalking her?  
>Word Count: 3,201<br>Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the Akatsuki, but I own all of the characters mentioned!  
>Chapter Notes: Some triggering words about suicide and self harm, but other than that it's just crappy humor and a lot of description words.<p>

_Italics_ is Mina talking to herself in her head, and **Bold** is her writing on her note pad to speak to others. I hope this is clear!

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><p>"How much longer do we have to go?" Uta Chisu, a young girl of thirteen asks. The two people present, Mina and Hairo-Sensei, look between each other before shrugging.<p>

"I would say another hour. Why, are you getting tired?" Hairo says in a condescending voice. Uta squeaks and flushes red, huffing.

"No! I've done a B rank mission before mind you, I don't get tired easily - that's Mina's job. She always faints." Uta grumbles the last part, eyes focusing on the ground now, too embarrassed to say anything else.

Mina, the girl addressed before, rolls her eyes before staring off into the distance again. She would come back with a witty remark, but ever since...let's just say she can't talk anymore because of an 'accident'.

Though the two girls are related, they do not look alike. Uta has short blond hair and bright blue eyes that dance in the sunlight, with tanned skin and a cherubic face. Her clothing is simple and modest, as such should be for a girl her age. Mina on the other hand has dark brown hair and mix matched eyes, with white frosty skin - or so she did before the accident. Now, along with the pale complexion, angry red burns adorn her skin partially. They are both the same height, yet the four years they are apart are apparent as Mina's chest is much larger in comparison to Uta's. Both girls have thin frames and toned limbs from training hard every day.

Though Mina and Hairo would not mind walking in silence, Uta has a different outlook on the situation. She continues talking, mainly to herself, with some short one word responses here and there from Hairo. It's not until the sun starts to set that they overcome a large hill and finally see their destination.

"Finally! After five hours of walking and an eight hour boat ride, we're here. I can't wait any longer, lets go find grandma, okay Mina?" the young girl looks up to her older sister with bright eyes, and the teen cannot help but cave in to the innocent looking child. So corruptible...Mina shakes her head of the horrific thoughts that flash through her head and allows herself to be dragged into town. Hairo follows closely, but not too close to barge in on the sister's moment.

They walk for another thirty minutes, getting some looks but not many. They finally make it to the heart of the town, and more importantly, their grandmother's house.

"Stop that, it's not good for the burns. Do you want permanent scars?" Hairo grasps Mina's thin wrist from her face, stopping her incessant scratching. Mina gives him a cold look, desperately wanting to tell him to get bent. She goes back to scratching softly once his back is turned.

"Siv! Open up, I know you're expecting us." Hairo says, brushing his sandy blond bangs out from covering his lifeless black eyes. He gives Uta a reassuring smile before the door is swung open.

"Children! Come in, come in, I've been waiting for you all afternoon. Thank goodness you got before twilight set in or I would have locked you out for the night. Are you staying Hairo, or are you returning to the leaf?" Sivigan Chisu, an old woman in her late 70's gives a toothy grin to the trio, making Uta giggle a little at her appearance. Mina stares before entering the small home, immediately going into the bathroom. She's had to go for three hours - Mina would have said something before, if she had a pen and paper that is.

"No fair, I have to go more badly than you Mina! Let me have firsts!" the seventeen year old just glares at her younger sister before closing and locking the door. Uta pouts, glancing around the sitting room filled to the brim with art of cats. She shudders before setting her bag down and skipping off to explore. Hairo and Siv enter, discussing the girls' predicament, unaware of Mina's presence in the room adjacent. She would have entered mid-conversation if it weren't for what they were talking about.

"So the fire wasn't an accident? Are you trying to tell me it was a massacre Hairo?" Siv's voice croaks, trying to whisper in her old age doesn't work too well.

"This is what the Hokage confirmed. He believes it was not a repeat of the Uchiha massacre - this one was planned and executed from an outside source. I'm not talking about outside the clan in Konoha, I'm saying someone evil did this. A-ka-tsu-ki evil." He sounds the word out syllable by syllable, and Mina's eyes widen by a fraction.

"_Where have I heard that name before..._" she wonders to herself, thinking back to the Uchiha massacre. She was 13 at the time, the same age as the older Uchiha was when he murdered...

"Sarutobi may even believe it was the elder Uchiha himself." Hairo concludes, Siv's face looking more troubled by the minute.

"That doesn't make any sense. The Uchiha had no connection to the clan, and even if it was him, why would he leave Mina and Uta alive? Out of everyone in the clan..."

"Don't talk of it like that Siv. I agree, it is strange, but I think their survival was a mere coincidence. Accident even; that part wasn't planned. They were trying to wipe the whole clan out." The twenty year old seems bent on getting that part past the old woman who is seemingly working it out in her brain.

"So if the whole clan was supposed to be demolished, and they know the girls are still alive...does this mean they'll target here next? I don't want to bring the Akatsuki into the Mist Hairo, that's too dangerous for my people." She sighs deeply in thought.

Mina, brain swimming with all of this new information, sits down on the toilet to think silently.

"_We were supposed to die. Why are we alive right now, what makes us so special that we're alive? Our survival is an accident...Grandma said so. She doesn't want us here, we're just a burden..."_

Mina shoves her bandaged face into her hands, feeling the stinging sensation ripple through her body. She lurches back, unable to bear the feeling of her half-burnt face being touched. Mina almost forgot about that - but it was hard for her to forget when it's the source of her disability. The teen stands and looks in the slightly rusty mirror with shame in her eyes.

A bandaged hand, shaky and warm, reaches up to brush her bangs out of her face. Face, half on fire and half porcelain...

"_I used to be so pretty. Now look at me...disfigured and disgusting."_

Self-loathing and wallowing in pity, Mina clips her bangs away from her face, for even the slightest brush of her hair makes her face throb. She stares with her one eye at her left side - completely rot with bandages, some of which have small blots of red from where the skin graphing didn't work so well. The absence of voices allow her to cautiously creep back out into the house, tired and worn down from the week's past events. Mina honestly wants to lay down and sleep forever, but her nosy sensei and family get in the way.

"Stay a night boy!" Siv says as Mina enters the dining area, finding all three other occupants sitting down at the large oak table.

"Oh no that's alright, I should get going soon anyways."

"I insist!"

"No, really, I must go."

Hairo stands, ignoring Siv's pleads. The old woman obviously does not want to be left alone with two young girls; but Hairo will have none of it.

"I will check back in a month or two, keep me posted Siv!" he yells as he escapes out the side door, leaving the poor woman on her steps.

"Damn young people and their sly escaping skills..." she huffs under her breath, turning back to the girls.

"So, are you two hungry, tired, or both?" she puts her hands on her robust hips, looking between the two. Uta looks ridiculously bored, and Mina looks a mixture of on the verge of tears and passing out.

"I just want to do something exciting." Uta says in a soft voice, unlike her normal bubbly tone.

"It's a little late for that sweetie, it's half past nine. Maybe you two should just go to sleep."

"_I second that motion old geezer."_ Mina thinks to herself, nodding once before forcing her legs to move her upstairs. She ignores Uta's calls to 'wait up' and finds the room with her belongings in it, closing the creaky door and locking the brass lock.

"_Solitude."_

Mina falls back onto the bed, finding it easier to ignore her body's cries of pain as she lays on the burnt part of her back, curling into a tight ball of teen limbs and brown hair. She falls asleep like this for a few hours before bolting up in a layer of cold sweat in the middle of the night. A flash of light reveals a disfigured shadow along the wall opposite of her and she jumps in fright, unable to make a sound. The shadow disappears and she relaxes, realizing it was a hazy hallucination from the trees outside the window.

Mina glances around the semi-bare walls, powder blue paint cracking everywhere and a small water leak in the corner. She sighs deeply, throat throbbing and burning from the gesture of deep breathing.

"_What I would do to get some relief from these fucking burns..._" she curses herself for not getting a burn medication before leaving Konoha. Mina is positive this run down town won't have any good salve.

The teen sits cross legged, face buried in her hands for a good hour or two, listening to the off beat tempo of rain hitting the side of the house. She hears nothing from the left side of her body, but her perfect right ear hears everything from a crash down the street to the soft scritch scratch of a mouse in the wall. Swiftly she moves, unable to bear the asymmetry for any longer. Mina stomps into the hallway and down to the bathroom, clicking on the light and letting the door stay open.

After staring at her reflection some more, she pulls her hair up into a large lumpy bun on the side of her head, carefully removing the bandages on her face. Occasionally it sticks to her sensitive and broken tissue, but releases after a soft tug or two. She winces when it gets down to her neck - the worse part of the burns on her front side. Mina tries to make a whimpering sound, any sound at all, but nothing comes out. Her vocal cords are officially broken to the point of no return. Her mouth moves, but nothing comes out, yet desperately so she wants to scream in pain when she moves to the bandages on her back.

Soon enough all the bloody bandages are off her body, and her sensitive red skin is revealed. Splotchy red marks adorn her skin all over her left side and back, carefully she inspects every one of them. Mina knows she should put the bandages back on, but she just spritzes the open wounds with some healing spray Hairo gave her and exits the bathroom, unknowingly putting on a show to an unannounced guest. He moves in the shadows, silent and unseen, following Mina down the stairs and to the front door where she pauses.

Mina's breath is heavy, atmosphere thick and laden with mid-summer humidity. She wants to turn around and confirm her suspicions of someone behind her, but something is stopping her from doing so. Instead, she continues to slowly creep out the house and sit on the front porch, ready to watch the sun rise in the next few minutes.

The unannounced guest makes his way through the side door and to the bushes where he is allowed to sit once more, watching patiently on the sidelines. Mina moves very little, allowing her wounds to get some air, planning on bandaging them again when she goes back inside. Alas, the sun rises slowly, shadows lifting and in their place are rays of golden sun. The guest waits no longer before retreating, knowing if he stayed any longer someone would catch him.

And so Mina returns to her new room in her new house in the new village, with some not so welcome new memories and nightmares. For the next two weeks, the same schedule follows as so:

12 AM: Fall asleep slowly with various distractions

4 AM: Wake up from nightmares

5 AM: Finish inspecting wounds and sit outside

6 AM: Watch sun rise

7 AM: Go back inside and sleep again

10 AM: Wake up from nightmares, again

11 AM: Pick up Uta from ninja Academy for lunch

12 PM: Make lunch for Siv and Uta

1 PM: Walk Uta back to the ninja Academy for afternoon lessons

2 PM: Work on Siv's garden

3 PM: Sit on the porch and watch people walk past

4 PM: Walk to the shore and throw stones into the ocean

5 PM: Pick Uta up from ninja Academy

6 PM: Sit down for dinner

7 PM: Hole self up in room and contemplate suicide for the next four hours

11 PM: Turn off light and try to go to sleep

All through the night she is watched by the mysterious guest who takes down few notes of her behavior. He leaves at dawn and returns at twilight, perched on the tree outside Mina's room or in the shadowy corners of the house. On the tenth night, he leaves the village and does not return.

During the hours Mina contemplates suicide, she stares at her personal dagger and thinks of her past self. Sure, she was never very outgoing, but at least she had friends, family, and a pretty face. That's what every girl needs, right? Now she's a loner, barely talks to her sister anymore, and has disfiguring scars that will last a life time and longer. Eventually, her mind turns to her mother's face, and that's about the time where she stabs her goose feather pillow with the dagger and storms out of her room. Mina then goes to the bathroom as usual, and with sick obsession she turns to the mirror and stares blankly. For what seems like an eternity she switches off closing her left eye, then her right, then both, then open them up at the same time. It's not the depth perception that gets to Mina, it's the fact that the milky white color of her left eye reminds her so much of her father. He too was blind in one eye. Everything keeps haunting Mina, reminding her of the life she once held, forcing her into realization.

After the 15th night of staring at her dagger, she begins to lightly drag it across her right forearm. Small beads of blood pop up, one by one, overflowing only slightly so they drip slowly, tickling her porcelain white skin. Just as she is about to sink the blade into her skin, a face pops up in the window right next to her bed.

"Hi there!" a loud voice announces itself and she jumps in fright, dagger flying out of her left hand and eventually sticking into the wall opposite.

"Wow you're jumpy. Is that your name, cause damn it'd fit hahaha!" the voice returns and Mina has it in her mind to strangle whoever it belongs to. She opens the rusty window with some difficulty, letting the stranger in through her window. In pops a tall girl with long blue hair, tumbling from her bed onto the floor. The stranger laughs again, cackling almost at her clumsiness.

"It smells like moth balls, neat!" the girl shouts, looking around, and Mina stares at her. Not because she's pretty, but the razor sharp teeth she's holding in her mouth. Subconsciously Mina reaches out to touch them, but a strong grip stops her hand before she can get too close.

"Whaddya doin' stranger?" the girl asks, cackling once more and tossing Mina's arm back at the burnt girl.

"I guess I never introduced myself, my name is Kioko. I live in the big grey house next door! I would have said hello before, but I just got back from a long mission. So what's your name hm? My mom said it was Nina, or Minnie, or something."

Mina stares, and then her eyes harden at the strange blue haired girl. She jumps up, absolutely determined to find a piece of paper. Rustling in her bag, she finds a small notebook with blank pages, and an old purple pen. Mina rolls her eyes at the color, but uses it anyways.

"**My name is Mina. I moved here 2 weeks ago after a fire that burned down my village. I cannot speak."** Is what she writes in smooth cursive. Kioko stares at the notebook before gasping out loud.

"I think I heard about that in the paper! Wow I'm so sorry about that. So were you like, mute before or after the fire?" the stranger pries into Mina's life, but for some reason she cannot help but answer the girl's question.

"**After. I have several burns decorating the left side of my body, rendering me mute, and also blind & deaf in my left eye and ear."**

Kioko stares intently at the notebook once more before gasping yet another time. Mina gets the feeling that the stranger is usually dramatic, and it cannot be helped.

"So sorry, again. I feel bad now. Do you want to come over, we can talk over tea. And you can have dinner! My mom is making tuna fish sandwiches, home made!"

Mina makes a face that causes Kioko to laugh in that creepy evil way she loves to laugh. Her teeth shine in the dim light of Mina's room, looking positively devilish.

"Don't worry, it's not like we're eating my little brother or anything. We have a pond out back that connects to the ocean, and sometimes fish swim up far enough to get trapped. It's totally harmless." She smiles sweetly and gives Mina a sense of faux innocence.

"**I'm sorry but I have to decline. Maybe some other time we could hang out?"**

Mina feels bold and for associating herself with such a dangerous looking girl.

"Well okay, I guess so. I'll see you around!" the stranger leaves the same way she came, and Mina watches as she hops over a large bush-fence and in through the back door of a large house.

And for the first time in two weeks, Mina sleeps all through the night, missing her routine check up and sunset watch. For the first time in two weeks, Mina does not contemplate suicide, and she talks to her little sister. For the first time in two weeks, she smiles at her grandma, and for the first time in two weeks -

She smiles at her reflection.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back again! Mwahahaha. It's starting to get interesting, ne? This is more of a character development chapter than anything else, the real plot is in the next chapter! Keep checking back for when that will be uploaded, I'm almost done with the final draft.

Title: To The Gallows  
>Story Summary: Mina's life has just turned upside down in the course of one night! How will she manage to juggle a crazy friend, needy little sister and overwhelming grandmother, and what does the Akatsuki have to do with any of this?<br>Chapter Summary: Mina's soft spot for Uta is revealed as they travel around the bleak village of the Mist. What adventures will unfold? Why are these shady men so interested in Uta? And Mina finally gets a glimpse of Kioko's insane family.  
>Word Count: 2,350 Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor the Akatsuki, but I own all of the characters mentioned!<br>Chapter Notes: Hints towards pedophilia if you're disgusting enough to see it (like myself) and more paranoia on Mina's part.

Italics is Mina talking to herself in her head, and Bold is her writing on her note pad to speak to others. I hope this is clear!

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><p>A month after Mina's first run in with Kioko her burn wounds are officially declared healed. The teen, though thankful she doesn't have to wear the bandages anymore, is still upset about her appearance. Uta notices this, along with all of Mina's new mannerisms, and becomes slightly concerned.<p>

"Mina..." Uta says softly, approaching her older sister sitting on the couch, reading silently. She turns her head fully to be able to see her younger sister with ease. An eyebrow twitch tells the thirteen year old to continue.

"Do you want to do something? Like, have a fun day? We used to have fun days all the time. Come on Mina, I'm positive you'll enjoy yourself." Uta smiles and stretches out her hand for Mina to take. The older teen contemplates it, and soon closes her book and stands up. She nods once, slipping her delicate hand into the palm of Uta's.

They go out on the town all day long, taking note of all the weird things they see - which includes, but is not limited to: A giant octopus head on the side of the street, two homeless women fighting over a hat, and a cat with only three legs. Uta tried to have Mina let her take the cat home, but by the sound of its voice, it seemed like it didn't have much time left.

"**You know I don't like cats anyways."** Mina concludes, shoving the paper in Uta's tearing face.

"But look at it! It needs a home...please." she starts to sniffle, and Mina slams her palm into her forehead in frustration. She scribbles out a response, almost tearing through the paper.

"**Fine, you can have a cat, just not that one okay? It seems sick and old. We can go to the pet store and you can pick out a kitten." **

Uta squeals at the suggestion, reveling in the fact that Mina is a lot more lenient than her parents were. They would have never let her get a cat, especially with her mother's allergies. The duo travels to the small run down pet store and step in, the smell of incense wafting through the air. Turns out it's half pet store and half voodoo store, so they are met with a dark skinned man with missing teeth.

"What can I get you lovely ladies?" he asks, grinning and leaning over the tall counter filled with a lot of illegal looking weapons. Mina nudges Uta to speak up and ask for what she wants, the younger girl temporarily forgetting her new job. Mina used to do all the talking when they went out together, but now it's up to Uta to get the message clear.

"I would like to browse your selection of kittens please." She stands straight up, formally looking the man in the eye. His gaze narrows for what seems like ages before he bursts out laughing.

"Of course you would! Come with me little lady, have your mom wait here while I help you pick one out."

Uta, eager as ever, is held back by Mina. The dark skinned man gets slapped in the face with a piece of paper.

"**Number one: I am not her mother! I'm her fucking older sister. Number two: If you touch her again, you'll end up looking like me. Capiche? Number three: The only way she is going in the back with you is if I come with, no exceptions."**

The man reads the paper over twice and nods, clicking his tongue.

"I see how it is lady, you want to play it hard ball. Whatever, Rakuu is in the back so just go on ahead." He pushes the two girls through a tight door way into a dimly lit room filled with caged animals. There is a small sign that reads "Cats" in the corner, surrounded by "Birds" and "Dogs". Uta smiles brightly and runs to the corner, peering over all of the cats. Mina follows silently.

"Aww, they don't have very many..." Uta says in a soft, disappointed voice. Mina looks, and sure enough, they have about four cats - all of them at least six years or older. Oh...wait, what is that lump in the back? Mina, fearless as ever, reaches into a poorly locked cage and pulls out a slumbering gray kitten. It's fuzzy and fast asleep; the texture of its fur almost makes Mina smile. But then she remembers she hates cats and hands the small fuzz ball off to Uta, who takes it into her arms greedily.

"I see you found one you like." An even larger and darker man appears from the shadows and makes Mina's skin crawl. She confidently nods, putting a protective hand on her little sister's shoulder.

"That'll cost you 50 coins. I'll give you a free bag of food if you buy another animal." Mina contemplates this offer, having a lot of money still left over from her savings that she rescued from the fire. She sends Uta to the doorway and stares the man down. After a few minutes of intense staring, the man gives in under pressure.

"Okay, 100 coins for two animals and I'll give you two free bags of food."

Unimpressed, Mina continues to stare silently. He grunts in frustration.

"100 coins and three free bags of food. Final offer." Mina smiles wickedly, pointing to a colorful bird cleaning its feathers in one of the cages. The man, slightly upset, reaches in and tries to retrieve the bird. It bites him angrily and hops to the other side, squawking its feathers off. Mina makes a laughing gesture and pushes him aside; she then reaches in and the bird hesitantly makes it way onto her arm. Content with herself, she nods to the man and points to the cage the bird was in.

"This too? That bumps the cost up to 125. Still satisfied?"

After a moment of staring and petting the bird, Mina nods and follows her sister into the front room. The man brings the things out and rings everything up quickly. Mina pays, not regretting a single thing as she has no trouble placing her bird back into its cage.. Uta on the other hand is having a blast petting the kitten, who has woken up and is mewing like crazy.

"**I hope you're happy. And no, I will not clean up for that little bastard."** Uta finds this piece of paper in her pocket before bed time, wondering when Mina had slipped that in there. The teen however is unfazed by her sister's words and contently pets the kitten while wondering where she should set up an area for it to eat and drink, expecting it to sleep on her bed.

Mina, staring at the bird once more in its cage - which is respectfully hung right next to the window, above her bed - does not notice a figure appear in her window sill.

"Heya friend." A voice comes from nowhere, startling Mina out of her staring contest. After the adrenaline comes down, she realizes its just Kioko. She had been visiting quite regularly this past week, but Mina has never seen her with anyone else, not even when she goes into town.

"**Are you real?"** Mina asks, and for some reason, Kioko laughs really hard.

"Of course I'm real. If I wasn't, I'd probably have like crazy awesome clothes on and wicked powers or something like that darling. I'm as real as they get, if you don't believe me, then come over tonight. You can meet my mom."

Mina ponders this option, and after all the requests to hang out, she accepts this one. Kioko's face brightens and she grabs Mina's hand.

"I hope you know that this means we're best friends now."

Mina makes a face once Kioko turns, cursing herself. She has no time to object however as she is flung out her window at a rapid speed, hurtling towards a tree. Her reflexes kick in and immediately she grabs onto a branch, swinging around before jumping into the air and landing in Kioko's back yard.

"Not bad, not bad. You never told me you're a ninja! I just thought you're dead weight, haha!" Oh the cackle appears once more. Mina nods, trying to motion with her hands that she used to be a very respected ninja.

"Not understanding a word you're ...flapping. Yeah I'd call that arm thing you're doing flapping." She grins and motions for Mina to come inside, dismissing the ninja comment all together. The teens appear into a kitchen looking area, creepily spotless and smelling of lemons. They then make their way into an equally spotless living room, spotless stairs, and into an unbelievably messy room with bright green walls.

"Here is my room! Awesome, isn't it? It took me forever to have my mom let me have green walls and a pink bed spread." She snorts and cackles, pulling Mina out before she can get a good look at everything. They enter another door and into a spotless sitting room where two figures are playing chess. One is a man who looks to be in his twenties, and another is a woman who is much older than him.

"Mom, Yasuo, this is my best friend I've talked about, Mina! Tada!" Kioko places her hands in the air as if to showcase Mina off to her family. Yasuo, presumably her older brother, glances quickly at Mina.

"Hey. I guess you exist after all."

Not knowing what he means, Mina tries to question, but is cut off.

"Aww you made a friend! How sweet of you Kiki. Now go clean your room, 'suo and I are playing chess." Her mother waves the two girls away, and Kioko does nothing about it. If anything, she's acting as if behavior towards her like this is...normal. It puzzles Mina. If her parents or sister ever said anything like that, she'd be upset and wonder what was wrong.

"Come on, we can hang out in my room, but you have to leave at twilight."

Mina nods, understanding curfew rules and such. In Konoha, there were never any rules that made teens go home at dark - but because of all the violence and poverty in the Mist, there are a lot of homeless people and gangs scattered. It makes it difficult for one to travel at night, so everyone under twenty is forced to stay inside after dark.

After a while of talking, mostly on Kioko's part, Mina interrupts.

"**I'm sorry, but I've been meaning to ask. Why did your brother think I wasn't real?"**

"Oh that? I have a history of mental diseases that cause me to hallucinate. They thought I was making you up or something. Happens." Kioko says this with a shrug, as if it is a normal happenstance. Mina is starting to think being crazy around here _is_ normal.

The brunette sighs and looks away, just realizing that there is a window that has a clear shot of her room. Inside, she can see her bird cleaning its feathers.

"**What should I name my bird?"** she asks out of the blue, tapping her new pen against her cheek. This one is black, a much more suitable choice for Mina rather than purple.

"Hmmm..." Kioko hums in thought, looking at the ceiling and thinking deeply about Mina's question. It isn't until a fair amount of time later that she comes up with a name.

"I've got it! Name him dinner."

Mina makes a disturbed face at this thought, and would have made an equally disturbed noise if she could.

"**I was thinking more along the lines of traditional names. Like Hiro, or Riku. I'm not eating my bird."**

"Then can I eat it?" Kioko retaliates, now staring at the colorful bird. As if sensing her gaze, he slowly turns to look out the window and squawks loudly.

Mina buries her face into her knees after pulling them up to her chest. She wiggles her toes into Kioko's bright bed spread before slipping off the covers.

"**I should go. I'll talk to you later."**

"Alright. It is getting dark now anyways. Oh, hey, one more question Mina. Who is that guy that's always lurking around your house? Is he your boyfriend?" she giggles perversely into her hand, teeth glistening.

Mina, making her way to the window, stops in terror. Man? What man? There is a man that lurks around her house?

"_Oh my god I'm not insane after all!"_

Mina scribbles furiously, concerned for her safety.

"**What does he look like? How long has he been here?"**

"Umm tall, dark hair, really creepy cloak. Ever since you came here he started showing up. He's really noisy too! Sheesh. He stopped showing up about a month ago though."

Mina's fear goes down at the last statement, hoping that Kioko's observations were correct. She waves impatiently and hops out the window, across the small gap between their houses and onto her window sill - frightening her bird in the process.

Calming her bird down by petting it with one finger, her heart jumps when the light flickers once.

"Nana says dinner is ready. Come on scardy pants." Uta giggles at Mina's scared face.

"_I wouldn't be so scared if I wasn't stalked! I can't wait till she grows up and learns the lessons of life, then maybe she'll get a brain."_ Mina sticks her tongue out at the door frame, where Uta had just been leaning.

The rest of the night goes normally, but Mina can't help but feel a bit off. Ever since Kioko told her about the stalker, she's been looking around and behind every corner she passes. Mina finds herself unable to sleep, just like the first few weeks of arriving here.

"_I miss my voice. I miss mom and dad too. I miss stupid Hairo, even if he is annoying and works me until I faint. I miss Konoha..."_

Self pitying sure helps Mina, because after a while of making a list of all the things she misses, she falls asleep.


End file.
